Friday, February 27, 2015

a couple of weeks ago, kimberly posted a sneak peek of a dress from her spring line for her etsy shop. we posted back and forth a few times about the dress and additional accessories for a photo shoot she had coming up. i got home that night and realized i had some supplies to make a quick necklace for her.

i love how it turned out. it was so simple and took about a half an hour to make.

paint wooden circles

dust with fine silver glitter

let dry

hot glue to rope

tie

for more info on the photo shoot and products, check out the following on instagram

Thursday, February 26, 2015

after last week's marathon bach watching, i wasn't sure we would make it another week, but here we are. i can't believe we're already at this point in the season.

who's watching...celsey, amanda, me

date 1...kaitlyn

what i saw...

her booty-where's the black box?

what i heard/said

romance is outside of your comfort zone?

eeeww don't put me in your armpit--cel

why isn't he in a breathable t shirt--cel

i hate animals, but those baby monkeys are so cute

her hair looks awful-cel and me at the exact same time

i'm falling in love with you as well--chris--is that even allowed?

what i thought

kaitlyn says she's falling in love, chris doesn't have a clue how to respond so he just says it back. they close the blinds in the suite and we can all use our imaginations about what happens next. we're pretty sure she's going home.

date 2...whitney

what i saw

we were all pretty distracted by her tan situation

also an unfortunate dress situation

what i heard/said

all of these dates are always the same-on a boat, exploring the town, how annoying--cel

she looks like she took a bath in a bag of cheetos--amanda

did she have a ross gellar moment in the tanning salon--amanda

small is an understatement--cel about arlington

what i thought

chris was sweating bullets talking to whitney about arlington=he really cares about her

date 3...becca

what i saw

i usually love beeca's wardrobe choices, but these fabrics are no bueno

what i heard

she wants to die--amanda

her hair...what happened? and did she lose her suitcase--cel

did she find a 5 foot asian woman and borrow her dress--amanda

do they not allow sunscreen?--cel

could they make the card any more awkward?

i'm kind of getting sick of her saying she's a virgin. definitely should have counted that.

i feel like it's not that big of a deal--cel

what i thought

being a virgin seems preferable to someone who has a shady past

we're pretty sure there must have been some editing. he was totally fine with her telling him.

we're also pretty sure they don't have sex. he's not going to do that to her on national tv.

rose ceremony

what i saw

traditional outfits

terrible hair poor girls

what i heard/said

bump its went out so long ago--amanda

whitney looks super confident-as she should. becca looks terrified.

tell us how you really feel whitney--cel

do you hear their heartbeats?--amanda

what i thought

when he came back with becca, it was pretty obvious she was staying

kaitlyn is a strong contender for bachelorette

word tally

farm...1

journey...1

love...51

amazing...8

husband/wife...3

what i predict

it seems like chris really wants it to be becca, but i don't know if she can get to the place she needs to be. we really like becca a lot, but we're worried for her. we're pretty torn on what we think. what are your thoughts?

Tuesday, February 24, 2015

i have this theory that boys and girls can't really be just friends. at some point in the relationship one or the other is interested in something more than friendship. i had this discussion last might with my friend's boyfriend. it blew his mind a little as he started thinking about some of his female friends. even though they may not admit it, i guarantee one or both had interest at some point.

Monday, February 23, 2015

last week i talked about family. my family is so important to me, and i love and miss them so much. today i'm talking about friends. my friends are also so important to me. i love meeting new people, and i want everyone to be my best friend. i have lots of best friends, and i really love it so much.

i love spending time with friends and family and making memories together.

we all know i have a lot of stuff-nail polish, cardigans, shoes, etc. one of my most favorite things i have is my friend journal.

i can't remember the exact assignment, but in high school i did a project where i started a journal with entries from friends. they wrote notes to me about our friendship, and i loved it from the start. i loved it so much i decided to keep doing it. throughout every era of my life-high school, summer camp, college, study abroad, post college, work, etc. i continue to have friends write in my friend journal when they move, get married, move on. some people write serious things. some people write silly things. some people share memories. it is the perfect way for me to remember our friendship. i haven't had my friend journal for the past year and a half because someone took it to write in it. i got it back a couple of weeks ago. i couldn't resist staying up late reading some of the entries. it made me so happy and a little emotional to read notes from friends. thank you high school for one of my most prized possessions.

Friday, February 20, 2015

i love stuffed peppers. they're really healthy and a nice change from my usual chicken and vegetables. i make them as a main dish regularly. this week i needed a gluten, dairy, egg free appetizer to take to a dinner this week and i had the idea to turn stuffed peppers into an appetizer.

ingredients

small peppers

turkey sausage

garlic salt

mined onion

tomatoes

pepperjack cheese

season turkey sausage with garlic salt and minced onion. cook on stove.

dice tomatoes and add to cooked sausage. cook.

let cool and add pepperjack cheese

stuff sausage mix into peppers

bake for 10-15 minutes at 350 degrees

serve warm

when i make stuff peppers, i usually use ground turkey, but the turkey sausage really improved the flavor. the pepper poppers were a big hit.

Thursday, February 19, 2015

the sundance film festival comes to utah every year. sometimes i go, and sometimes i have good intentions to go. this year started out as one of those good intentions years until last minute plans came up.

opening weekend is the best time to go especially if you want to see celebs. i am not star struck at all, but it is pretty fun to stand a foot away from jack black. i went up to park city with kristie and a few of her friends. one of her friends is a sundance pro. she knows where all the celebs are and how to talk to them. it was pretty exciting to watch actually.

we started out at the library

one of the tricks is waiting outside the media tent before the movie premier.

sometimes the celebs come and talk and sometimes they rush inside

after the library we went to main street. we didn't see anyone there, but it was fun to walk around.

i'm happy those last minute plans came up. it was definitely a fun time.

Tuesday, February 17, 2015

running isn't for everyone. just because i run doesn't mean i think everyone should, but i get asked about running all the time. i shared my full running story a few years ago. it's no secret that i don't love running. i love a lot of parts of running especially with my group, but i don't love going outside my front door for a quick 3 mile run.

most of the time i run marathons and occasionally a half marathon. yes, they are hard and take a lot of hard work and training, but i am much more of a distance runner than a sprinter. there are so many 5Ks here all.the.time. i could literally runa 5K every weekend if i wanted to. i don't run a lot of them, but the color run is definitely worth doing.

We're pumping up the 5k course and finish festival too! Look for a unique Sparkle Zone and killer photo ops on course. At the finish festival, get ready for confetti cannons, shimmering clouds of color, and more!

last year was a total blast, and i expect this year to be even better. are you convinced yet? use code MLC143657 to save $5 on registration. sign up now!

code works after the first 30 days of registration

***i received an entry to the color run in exchange for this post. all opinions are my own.

Monday, February 16, 2015

for the majority of my adult life, i have lived away from my immediate family. both of my sisters lived in utah at separate times for a few months. i absolutely wish i lived close to my family. i miss them all the time, and saying goodbye when i do see them is just about the worst thing ever.

my mom is from southern utah, and my dad is from iowa. i grew up mostly in north carolina which means we didn't live close to any extended family at all.

we didn't see our first cousins much at all so we definitely didn't see even more extended family. most of my mom's cousins and their families live in utah, but i still don't see them like ever.

my friend kristie had a small valentine's day party. her good friend eric walked in and asked my last name. (i think kristie mentioned who was coming so he probably heard it at some point). i told him, and i was completely unprepared for his response.

"we're cousins"

um,,,no. we're not.

as it turns out, we are in fact cousins, second cousins. eric's mom and my mom are cousins. i've probably only seen him 2-3 times in my whole time, but i still felt super embarrassed. he was nice and we joked about it. it was definitely funny but also a little awkward and a lot embarrassing.

do you live close to your family? do you know your 2nd and 3rd cousins?

Friday, February 13, 2015

i'm a complete neat freak. like a lot of people, i like things to be clean and organized, but it's good for kids to make messes and play with messy things.

what do ziploc bags have to do with messy play? the simple answer is everything. it's good for kids to explore different textures like playdough, slime, paint, putty, etc, but some kids/people don't like to touch messy things. here are a few quick tips for success.

Wednesday, February 11, 2015

dating has been a hot topic around here lately. i am working on my focus on love goal of exploring online dating. let's just say i have more work to do. good think i still have some time left.

i'm not a creative dater at all. i'm pretty happy with the generic dinner+something. i'm not much of a movie watcher so the movie part of dinner+movie is a little tricky. i tend to fall asleep during movies so it's not the ideal date situation.

here are some of my preferred date night ideas

1. dinner only (especially for blind dates)

2. something outside (fireworks, baseball game, concert)

3. something active (tennis, running, light hike)

4. cooking dinner

5. walk around the park

a few tips for a successful date night

1. make a plan-who is in charge? does the other person know what you are doing? are you eating on the date or should we eat before?

Tuesday, February 10, 2015

i usually like to do fashion posts on wednesday. today is obviously not wednesday, but i that's ok right?!? i've been hearing about lularoe for months now, but i've never actually tried it. i got the cassie pencil skirt, and i've pretty much fallen in love.